No response from BBMP; traffic cops start filling potholes

The traffic officials, armed with basic tools and materials, fill the potholes temporarily by sourcing gravel, cement, sand and other materials from local contractors

In an effort to tackle Bengaluru’s notorious traffic congestion that is exacerbated by heavy rains and waterlogged roads, the city’s traffic police have taken an unusual step --filling potholes themselves.

The traffic officials, armed with basic tools and materials such as choppers, ropes and shovels, fill the potholes temporarily by sourcing gravel, cement, sand and other materials from local contractors.

Talking about the pothole that was recently filled near Rampura Lake, Chaitanya, an official from the K.R. Puram Traffic police station, said, “It’s a heavy traffic area which also sees movement of heavy vehicles. So, we are taking local help and filling the potholes to ensure smooth traffic.”

The filling mostly happens in an ad-hoc manner.

“If a concrete mixing machine passes by, we request some concrete to fill up the pothole,” says Chaitanya.

A persisting issue

According to the police, some of the most affected areas due to potholes and waterlogging are BEL Circle, Hebbala, Cantonment, Hennur, Varthur, Whitefield and K.R. Puram.

Commenting that some of the potholes are half the size of his vehicle, Nasar Ahmed, an auto driver from Vasanth Nagar, says, “The roads are in such a bad condition. The vehicle can turn over. There may be accidents. People might even die.”

Tushar Girinath, Chief Commissioner, BBMP, noted that many of the roads that were repaired earlier by BBMP have been damaged in the rains and formed potholes again.

The K.R. Puram Traffic police has been filling up potholes daily near Rampura Lake, Kasturi Nagar, Muthu Mariamman Temple and Ramamurthy Nagar.

‘Unscientific process’

However, not everyone is happy with the initiative.

BBMP Chief Engineer for Road Infrastructure, B.S. Prahalad said that this kind of temporary filling will BBMP officials’ work harder.

“They will put debris, garbage, and anything that’s available to fill the potholes. That’s not scientific. Now, we have to remove the debris first and refill it again.”

Pointing out that no scientific process or engineering principle is followed during such temporary filling, he further said that BBMP is equipped to carry out such work, has contractors in place and has communicated to the Joint Commissioner of Traffic police that temporary filling has to stop.

“The traffic police must tell the BBMP officials to do the pothole work. Despite that if it is not done, we will take disciplinary action against the officials,” he said.

However, traffic officials claim that they inform BBMP officials diligently about potholes and take matters into their own hands only when they receive no response.

DCP Traffic division East Kuldeep Kumar R. Jain said, “We write to them monthly giving the statistics and data of the affected places. We also upload information on potholes on BBMP’s FixMyStreet app. Sometimes they are unable to fill it at our convenience, so we take local help.”

Published - October 23, 2024 09:00 am IST